


Escalate

by forgottenarchives



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Asexuality, Damian is Robin, Dick is Batman, Discovery of Sexuality, Jason deals with his grief in a bad way and he makes it Damian's problem, Jason is Redhood, Jason just couldn't leave well enough alone, M/M, Spoiler: Damian might be ace, Underage - Freeform, aged up Damian, personal fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-23 21:35:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20231005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgottenarchives/pseuds/forgottenarchives
Summary: AU where Bruce stayed dead and Dick and Damian stayed as the dynamic duo.Damian is a teenager sorting through his own issues along with his regular responsibilities when he catches the eye of none other than Red Hood. Things could go well or very very badly. Repost.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written 2016

Jason barely had a chance to suck on his freshly lit cigarette when he heard the crunch of gravel behind him. He had his gun pulled from its holster and dropped his smoke in the same motion. If he was honest Jason was a little disappointed he turned to find the little Demon and not his favourite golden boy. The kid wasn’t in his Robin costume. He wasn’t even wearing a mask like Jason was. Okay then.

He casually scanned nearby rooftops. Dick was usually around when the kid was out, surreptitiously monitoring the youngest Robin. No cowl in sight, how disappointing. Jason holstered his gun when he figured he wasn’t in immediate danger.

“Hey kid. Normally I’d love to chat but I’m kinda busy doing grown up stuff so if you could make this quick that’d be great”. If Jason had removed his head from his own ass for more than two seconds he would have registered the fury on Damian’s face and done a better job at avoiding a confrontation. As it was, he didn’t.

“I am not a child” Damian carefully enounced.

“Really? Because from here picking fights with vigilantes at night is a pretty childish thing to do”

When Damian dropped in to a fighting stance and his hands curled to fists Jason was more than ready to retaliate. He may not have the benefit of a lifetime of training with assassins but he was far from a pushover.

The first strike glanced off his jaw but the second landed on his gut. Yeah that one hurt a little even through the light body armour.

“C’mon, I know you’ve got more than that” Jason couldn’t resist goading.

A quick end to this little skirmish would be to strike his face and bust his nose. Or, you know, just shoot the kid but that would cause more problems than it would solve. Damian was here out of uniform and unarmed. Something was bothering him or he wouldn’t have made so many mistakes. Whatever the issue was it was so not Jason’s problem right now.

Jason used his bulk to his full advantage and rushed Damian who stepped back, opening himself up to a strike across the face. The crack of the hit seemed loud and Jason grinned. He struck again and Damian snarled when he retaliated. It was almost too easy to jump to the side and watch Damian over reach.

“You’re sloppy, I shouldn’t have been able to avoid that”

After another short exchange of hits Jason was ready to end it. Damian was quick but his precision didn’t make up for the hits that weren’t as hard as they should have been. It was stupid of him to attack if he wasn’t serious.

In a quick move he picked up from Grayson himself, Jason pulled Damian in to an arm lock. Jason held Damian’s arm in a right angle, standing to the side of his bicep and put a gloved hand on the back of his elbow and pulled. It was a pretty standard cop move and damn it worked well. Jason hardly had to apply any pressure at all and Damian couldn’t move his arm or jerk out of his grip, shifting to where he wanted him. Damian was bent over, huffing through his teeth. Looks like the fight was out of him already. Jason dug in to the pressure point in Damian’s stretched shoulder and he jerked up in his hold with a loud expletive.

“You gonna calm down now?” he asked the back of Damian’s head.

He gave it a moment then released his hold on Damian and put a hand on his hip, utterly unimpressed by that scuffle.

Damian spluttered and wiped his lips, smearing blood across his mouth. He had a split lip and what would probably become an impressive bruise across his cheek.

“Grayson never hit me that hard during training"

"This isn't training kid. Pro tip, I don't pull my punches and I’m sure as shit not your punching bag, if it’s a cuddle or a pep talk you’re better off running home to Dickie,” God knows Dick tried that touchy feely crap more often than not when Jason was younger. It never worked but it had been nice to know someone cared all the same.

“It’s past your bedtime anyway”.

Jason checked his wrist as though he were wearing a watch. He knew it was about 2am. The warehouse he’d been casing had ceased activity around midnight and Jason was waiting for the occupants to leave to leave so he could see who’d been messing with his drug sales in the Narrows.

Jason tapped his pockets for a cigarette. Damn it, looks like he was out.

“You owe me a new packet”. Jason sulked as he toed at the smoke he hardly got to start. It had been crushed beyond salvaging during their little fight.

“You shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for you”

Jason scoffed.

“You shouldn’t attack people for no god damn reason. What the hell is your problem anyway? You get sloppy when you’re angry, y’know”

Damian made that ‘tt’ sound and scowled at him. If his mask didn’t have reflective lenses they’d be having a staring contest.

“Okay, I get the feeling we’re gonna be here a while. Pull up a seat” he gestured to the ledge of the building and flopped down to sit with his legs dangling over the edge. It wasn’t windy but there was a chill to the air that was slowly biting through his leather jacket. After this he was going to get fries from that 24/7 diner he liked then he was going home.

They sat in silence for a while. Jason resumed casually observing the warehouse below them, looking for signs of trouble and Damian just sat there, thinking about how best to kill him probably.

He tilted his head slightly to the side so it wasn’t obvious he was gawking at his companion. It was clear that Damian was upset about something but Jason couldn’t help but stare. Damian was… kinda cute. His face had lost that softness that came with childhood, and he’d shot up in height and was starting to bulk up to fill out his large frame. Damian had a short haircut he kept carefully styled back, thick eyelashes, plush lips even with the split that had stopped bleeding. He’d long grown out of his bratty-child -assassin phase and was apparently full swing in to his bratty-teenage-terror phase. Jason died before he got to live through his teenage years and in some ways he didn’t envy the kid for going through the latter stages of puberty. But he was probably underage, not to mention the whole awkward shitstorm Jason felt towards Damian’s dad. No, Jason shouldn’t even think about it.

Damian broke the silence.

“Father has been dead for nearly three years now”. Jason ran a hand through his hair and sighed, otherwise letting Damian finish before he interrupted. Conversations had a tendency to lead back to Bruce didn’t they?

“He never approved of what I am, what I was raised to be. A killer” Damian stared at his hands and clenched his fists. “I tried to change. I have changed. It’s been a long time since I murdered anybody and the urge to kill is almost non-existent now. But father isn’t here to see that, and I- how am I supposed to prove myself to him" Damian was quiet, Jason didn't think he'd ever heard the kid whisper before.

"Hm, yeah, see the thing I've learned is the only person you need to prove anything to is yourself. Even if Bruce was alive, Dami, you were never gonna find absolution from him. Trust me, I've got experience” His lips pulled in to a wry smile. “If you say you’ve changed for the best, then good. In the end the only person whose opinion of you matters is your own. I promise”

Damian chewed his lip, considering this.  
“Grayson has said similar things in the past. However, we still disagree-”

Jason waved a hand at the thought. “You can respect and even like someone like Grayson just fine without having to agree with him on everything. At this point it wouldn’t matter if you go on a killing spree, you’re Grayson’s little brother and he’s not going to let anything get in the way of that”

He gave Damian what he figured was a comforting smile and Damian nodded slightly. His own lips had curled up a fraction. A genuine smile, and it was directed at him? Today must have been Jason’s lucky day.

Jason figured that was what was bothering Damian if his more relaxed posture was anything to go by. The furrow between Damian’s brows hadn’t changed over the years, nor had the intense glare of his pretty blue eyes. The glare he just now noticed was directed at him. The slightest flicker of lust curled in his belly. It was nice having that intensity focussed on him when there wasn’t the immediate threat of danger.

“How old are you now anyway. Fourteen? Fifteen?”

Jason ignored the twinge of guilt he felt for even asking. What was he always saying about not fucking with kids? The feeling of guilt crept back up that Jason was even thinking about backing out on his philosophy.

Damian scowled, the trace of a smile long gone. “I am sixteen, you oaf”

Sixteen huh? That was workable. He could work with this. Nothing wrong with a kiss and maybe some heavy petting, right. Jason’s smile was nothing short of sleazy. His eyes raked up and down Damian’s form again. He wasn’t just cute, he was genuinely good looking.

“Why are you looking at me like that Todd?” Damian groused.

“Like what?” Jason wet his lips.

“Like I’m something to eat”. Damian kind of looked like he was blushing. Was he blushing? Adorable.

“If only you knew”, he leaned toward Damian. "So anyway, have you ever kissed anyone?”

"Of course not. I have no time for such foolishness"

Jason couldn't help his grin.

“Do you wanna try?”

This time Jason was definitely sure Damian was blushing.

This close he could see the colour Damian's eyes in detail. They weren't just brown like he first thought, they were kinda green. Damian’s brows were pinched in to a scowl.

"You smell like cheap cigarettes” They were close. Jason could feel the heat of Damian’s breath on his lips as he spoke.

"Is that a deal breaker?"

"I- no" Damian was still scowling, but now he looked confused.

“Good. Stop talking”

Jason tilted his head and went for it. He pressed his lips against Damian’s and felt him gasp. He placed a hand on Damian’s thigh and it was at that exact moment he heard Dick fucking Grayson calling out to Damian and alerting the entire fucking neighbourhood to their no-longer secret location on a roof top.

Damn it, things just weren’t going his way tonight, were they?

“Damian! What are you doing Jason, get away from him!”

“Figures the boy wonder would interrupt” Jason muttered. He pulled away and Damian scrambled to get up and placate his adopted brother. The kid looked kind of stunned. Well, as far as kisses go it hadn’t been that great but it wasn’t terrible either.

“What were you doing, why did you stop him from leaving?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Does it really look like I’m keeping him here against his will?” Jason stood up and held ground. Away from Damian. No point in starting unnecessary drama.

He could see Dick puffing up like a big angry bird even while he was clasping Damian’s shoulders, as though worried the kid would try to run away. Jason wouldn’t blame him if he did.

“Alright, looks like we’re all done here. Nice chat Dami. See you around”

He turned and left. The warehouse stake out had been boring and Damian made it much more interesting. Looks like his night hadn’t been a waste after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian has been distracted lately, and Jason finds him on patrol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this draft sitting in my WIP folder since the end of 2015 I figured it was about time to dust it off and post it. This chapter is just plot. Next chapter should get a little juicier. It's late and I'm tired of staring at the same block of writing so here, please take it.

Damian had been distracted for days. His lip had scabbed up, a painful nuisance that was the only physical reminder that he even had a run in with the Red Hood. That, and the hot shame that he felt at being weak to Jason’s advances.

He licked his lips, and sneered at the essay he was supposed to be writing. Getting distracted thinking about a dropkick like Jason. Pathetic.

He lifted his pen and crossed out the last line he wrote. It was quicker to write and edit on computers but he read better when it was printed out.

-  
Damian hated himself for still thinking about the taste of cigarettes. The smell was familiar, and not entirely unpleasant. Some of the men in the compound he grew up in used to smoke. The teenager rubbed his lips and focussed on the test in front of him. He was taking a standardised mathematics test and it shouldn’t take him long to complete if he could just stop thinking about idiotic things.

Attending school felt like a waste of time, surrounded by idiots and incompetent teachers. He was sure he’d learn more from a personal tutor but attending school with other people made Grayson happy. Grayson wasn’t happy very often.

-

The weeks passed and his busted lip was healed up, finally.

Damian was prowling the streets nearby a break-in, looking for clues about who did it and where they went, Dick searching the next block over. He didn’t have to look far.

Damian found a man with a handful of stolen goods from the store he burgled very close nearby. His back was to Damian and he was shaking, not from the cold but from staring at what looked to be guts splattered across the pavement.  
Robin cuffed him and pushed him aside. The police could deal with processing him and returning the stolen goods. He was more interested in the new crime scene he just found.

Bodies had started appearing across Gotham with similar injuries.

Damian kneeled, examining the blood trail that indicated an escape attempt, and the surgical incision across the corpses gut looked like it was made with a scalpel.  
This wasn't the first body that turned up in the city with similar injuries, but this was the first time Robin got to the scene before the police did.

It was gruesome but nothing he couldn't handle. Nothing he hadn’t seen before. Nothing he hadn’t done similar to before. He held up a finger to the side of his visor, activating the microphone to contact Dick.

“Batman, I found something”

“You okay Robin?”

Damian rolled his eyes, hidden by his visors.

“I am fine, but this dead body is not. I'll take evidence but it matches the case we were investigating last week.” There was a serial killer prowling Gotham.

“That’s good, I-” Dick cut himself off, and Damian could hear him crouch. “Something just came up, I’ll meet you back at hq.”

The line went dead. Whatever it was couldn’t have been a big deal or he would have requested backup. Damian rang Gotham PD and left an anonymous tip about the thief he found and the bloody murder scene.

He took photos, swabbed what he dared without interrupting the crime scene and left. Dick would want to analyse the DNA to find out who the victim was, and Damian was curious about the white powder he found under the victim's fingernails. Drugs, he was sure of that much, but exactly what kind and where it came from would become clear when the analysed it using the batcave computer.

Damian’s patrol was over since Dick said to meet back home.

-

Dick told him Red Hood was active in the area they’d been patrolling in, and that was why he sent Damian home before him.

The next time they were out on patrol they were separated again, Dick was busy helping some old lady rescue her dog from a storm drain. Batman was supposed to be the worlds greatest detective, not some local do-gooder.

He had no time for such an asinine mission, and continued on without Batman by his side. He didn’t need company on patrol, he is more than old and experienced enough to go out by himself. It was nearing dusk, the sunset casting a smarmy pink glow across the filthy streets. If one didn’t look too close then Gotham would almost seem like a clean, friendly, happy city.

Damian knew this was not the case and mere minutes later, hopping from rooftop to rooftop, he came across another crime scene. This one featuring a bloody body that was gasping for breath. Still alive, then. He dropped down to the alley with a flutter of his black and yellow cape, and investigated closer. Normally when there was a body leaning against the wall in an alleyway it was a junkie, in which case he’d call an ambulance, or a homeless person, where he would then direct them to a nearby homeless shelter. There were a handful around the city, still being funded as part of his father's legacy.

This man looked like he might have just been the victim of a mugging. He had no personal belongings and he was barely conscious when Damian approached.  
He reached for his visor to check in with Batman when he heard his name being called by a familiar voice.

"Little D!" Damian scowled at the nickname and turned to see Red Hood approaching, bloody crowbar in hand.  
Hood, Jason, dropped it and the clatter seemed to echo through the alley. Well, that explained who did it. Whatever it was that the man had done Damian could only assume the punishment fit crime.

Jason walked right up to him and leaned in to Damian’s personal space. This close Damian could smell the cigarette smoke. For the moment, Damian allowed the contact.

"I've been setting up traps for weeks to try and get you alone, you’re always with Batman”

"I see". He turned his face when Jason tried to kiss him. Jason didn't seem bothered by the cold shoulder treatment and cupped his chin so they could kiss properly. Damian tried pushing against Jason's chest but he wouldn't budge. His gloved hands relaxed against Jay’s chest and- and kissing wasn't so bad, when he tilted his head and leaned into it. Shit. This was better than the kiss on the rooftop, he wasn't as stiff as then.

The vic, who was silent until then chose that moment to cough and struggle out “What the fuck?”. Damian stepped away from Jason, ashamed at being caught, and caught fraternising with a locally known enemy of the Bats at that.

“Shut up” Jason said, and walked over to stomp on the vic’s head, knocking him out cold. The damage was done. Damian shied away from Jason when he reached for Robin’s waist.

“Cops will be here soon, let’s get out of here”

“You called them on yourself?”

“Yeah. I don’t need this idiot to die here, just suffer a little.”

“He saw.”

“If he says anything I’ll fucking kill him, and anyone he talked to.” He says it with such confidence Damian's almost inclined to believe him. 

The speaker in Damian’s ear crackled.  
“Hey Robin, where are you? I’m all finished up here.”

In this proximity Jason could almost make out what was being said.  
“Tell Dickie you’re busy.”

“I’m done for the night, I’ll meet you back home.”

“Oh,” Dick was surprised, but this wasn’t the first time Damian cut a patrol short. It was a school night after all. “Alright. Take care kid.” Damian cut the line before he could snap out something about not being a kid, and Jayson was grinning like an idiot. They could hear sirens wailing in the distance, they didn't have long to leave.

“You hungry? I know a great place to eat. I go there when I’m not in my civs all the time, they won’t bat an eye at the Robin get-up.”

Against his better judgement, Damina allowed Jason to lead him away with a hand on his lower back. The touch... it wasn’t altogether unpleasant. They disappeared together into the streets of Gotham.


End file.
